This invention is related to sickle bar mowers and, particularly, to a sickle bar mower suitable for mounting on or attaching to the side of a tractor, that allows the operator to raise and lower the bar while operating the sickle bar. More particularly, this invention allows the operator to rotate the bar more than 140xc2x0 by at least two rotation means. One means is on the inner arm and the other means is on the head yoke.
Side mounted sickle mowers are used to mow fields and roadsides. When mowing roadsides, it is necessary to maneuver around obstacles such as signs and trees. The cutterbar of mowers known in the art have to be turned off to raise the mower 90xc2x0 to allow the mower to pass such obstacles. The present invention allows the cutter bar to be raised 90xc2x0 while still operating, saving the operating time to stop and restart the cutterbar to resume mowing. On uneven ground, mowers known in the art have limited rotation downward to allow the grass to be mowed effectively on downward slopes. The mower of the present invention allows the cutterbar to be rotated downward to about 60xc2x0 below the horizontal to mow on downward slopes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,400 discloses a sidemounted mower designed to reduce the transmission of vibration from the sickle to the tractor. This reduction is accomplished with a pair of laterally spaced links interconnecting the hitch frame with the drag bar and cutterbar assembly to form a generally horizontal four bar linkage having one rigid corner, the link adjacent the rigid corner being resilient in the transverse direction. The apparatus provides for the rotating of the cutterbar 61 around the pin 63, thereby raising the outer end of the cutterbar. Such pivoting, however, is less than 90xc2x0, and appears from FIG. 2 in U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,400 to be about 45xc2x0.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,311,095 discloses a side mower for tractors, wherein a lever is connected to the drag bar of the mower, wherein the lever has a floating mounting in the tractor of distortable elastic material in compression and in torsion. The mower has a lever 54 fixed to the shoe 7 on which is mounted the cutter bar 1. The shoe 7 is pivotally supported at 8 and 9 on the frame member 10. However, rotation while operating is limited, because of the aligning of the pitman 4 with the cutterbar 1, restricting the amount of rotation while operating the cutterbar.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,699,025 discloses a cutter bar mounted on a drag bar wherein the drag bar has a universal connection, a pull bar extending forwardly from the drag bar, a slotted plate carried by the tractor forwardly of the drag bar, and resilient abutment means at the forward end of the pull bar. The cutterbar can rotate upwardly or downwardly about 15xc2x0 while operating (see FIGS. 5 and 6). The cutterbar can rotate a full 90xc2x0 upward, but not while operating the cutterbar.
None of the above references disclose the claimed cutterbar for attachment to a tractor, wherein the side-mounted cutterbar can be operated while being rotated from about 90xc2x0 above the horizontal to about 60xc2x0 below horizontal.
A mower attachment for a tractor comprising a base plate attached to the tractor, an inner arm rotatably attached to the base plate, wherein the inner arm has an end plate; an outer plate attached to the end of the inner arm; a mower yoke attached to the outer plate; and an oscillating sickle with a sickle head and a cutterbar. The sickle head rotatably nests in the mower yoke. The cutterbar can rotate more than about 140xc2x0 while the sickle is operating. The attachment can be side-mounted on a tractor.